Keeping elders connected is a work of mercy

Sr. Constance Veit, L.S.P.

2/05/16

During a recent family reunion, my elderly mother and I were
the only ones at the table without smart phones. We felt left
out. A few days later I read that Pope Francis advised
parents to ban mobile devices from the dinner table to help
restore the quality of family relationships.

These two occurrences reminded me of the life of our
foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan. In her time the poor essentially
were swept aside in the wake of the French Revolution and
rapid industrialization. Today we are experiencing a
different type of revolution as digital technologies evolve
nearly every day.

New modes of social communication, it is claimed, foster
unimagined levels of human connectedness. But just as the
poor and elderly were marginalized in St. Jeanne Jugan's day,
they often are left behind in the communications revolution
of today when they lack the means or the know-how to keep up
with the latest technology. Consider these statistics from
the Pew Internet and American Life Project:

1. While 95 percent of millennials own cell phones, less than
half of those over 75 own one. Only 18 percent of seniors own
a smartphone.

2. Only 10 percent of those belonging to the G.I. Generation
own a laptop, compared with 70 percent of Millennials and 65
percent of Baby Boomers.

3. Only 27 percent of older adults engage in online social
networking.

Younger, higher-income and more highly educated seniors use
the internet more than those who are older or of more modest
means. For both groups, usage drops off dramatically after
age 75.

Regardless of age, those who use social networking say they
interact more with other digitally connected people than with
those who do not use digital communication. These new forms
of technology, with their rapid changes, have created a new
generation gap.

Recently I was shocked to read that more than 1 million older
people in the United Kingdom go a month without talking to
another human being. This figure surely would be comparable
in our own country. Such loneliness is deadly. Studies show
that inadequate social interaction is linked to premature
death. The increased mortality risk associated with
loneliness is comparable to smoking, and twice as great as
the risk associated with obesity.

I hope you find this data as startling as I do. Through Pope
Francis' repeated calls for a culture of encounter, I believe
God is asking us to do something to relieve the social
isolation of the elderly and poor. During this Jubilee Year
of Mercy he is inviting us to practice the corporal and
spiritual works of mercy; among these are visiting the sick
and imprisoned and comforting the afflicted.

So what can we do? If you know an older person, who has the
means but not the know-how to access digital media, then
practice mercy by teaching them how to use the technology
they already own.

For those unable to afford computers and smart phones, as
well as those whose physical or cognitive limitations prevent
them from being able to use them, visit them with your laptop
on a regular basis and facilitate their connection to
long-distance loved ones via Skype or a similar platform.

Finally, enrich the lives of the elderly through real,
in-person face time. What better way could there be to
celebrate the Jubilee of Mercy than to commit to spending
time with our elderly loved ones or homebound neighbors and
sharing a meal or a memory with them?

Pope Francis inspires us to practice this form of mercy:
"Sharing and knowing how to share is a precious virtue," he
said. "Its symbol, its 'icon,' is the family gathered around
the dinner table. The sharing of meals - and in addition to
food also of affection, of stories, of events - is a common
experience."

The pope added, "A family that hardly ever eats together, or
that does not talk at the table but watches television, or
looks at a smartphone is a 'barely familial' family
It is like a boarding house!"

Let's apply the pope's thinking to our relationships with
elders. Let's do all we can to make sure that family
togetherness and intergenerational bonds grow stronger during
this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Sr. Constance is director of communications for the Little
Sisters of the Poor.